Flamingos

Several projects, with nearly 60,000 colour rings used in 5 Mediterranean countries in 1977-2011. A complete description of all projects and the addresses to which the observations should be reported is available through :
http://www.flamingoatlas.org/dwld_bandsummaries.php
(last page : 'used characters in ring codes according to the kind of rings').

A preliminary orientation can be obtained through to the following 10-steps key to help flamingo ring identification in the Mediterranean (see also the warnings in the attachment, with translations in 10 languages).

LIGHT OR DARK COLOUR?
1) The ring is white, yellow, yellowish, orange, red or pinkish => see 3.
2) The ring is blue (or looks ‘dark’) and has a white code starting with I or E => the bird is Italian.
LIGHT COLOUR, NO BAR
3) The code has no bar between adjacent characters => see 5.
4) The code has one bar between adjacent characters => see 7.
5) The code starts with M, W or Z => the bird is Sardinian (M or W) or belongs to the introduced German stock (Z). In the latter case, the species may be different from P. roseus.
6) The code does not start with M, W or Z = the bird is French.
LIGHT COLOUR, WITH A BAR
7) It’s a 3- or 4-character code, with a bar between the first and second character => see 9.
8) It’s a 4-character code, with a central bar (between 2nd and 3rd character) => the bird is Algerian.
9) It’s a 4-character code, the 1st character is a T or an X => the bird is Turkish (T) or Catalan (X).
10) It’s a 3- or 4-character code, the 1st character is not a T or an X => the bird is Andalusian.

(see attachment below : a 10-steps key to help flamingo ring identification in the Mediterranean.